Appeal No. 1997-2066
Application 08/537,408
The Examiner fails to provide any evidence that one of
ordinary skill in the art would not have known what structure
to use to implement the hardware of the wireless LAN. In
addition, Appellant has submitted a declaration which
identifies a prior art publication by R.E. Kahn et al. (Kahn),
Advances in Packet Radio Technology, Proc. of the IEEE,
Vol. 66, No. 11, Nov. 1978, pp. 1468-1496, which discloses a
packet radio suitable for implementing both the nodes and the
access points that could be used in combination with the
method steps and apparatus of the present invention. The
Examiner finds that this is an impermissible attempt to
incorporate additional disclosure (EA14). However, it is
clear that Appellant cites the Kahn article as evidence of
knowledge of those of ordinary skill in the art, which does
not have to be put in the application. The Examiner has not
shown that the LAN was not known in the art.
The improved method and apparatus for maintaining
connectivity lies in the specific steps (method claims 1 and
11) and programming logic (claim 12) by which the node
participates in the decision as to whether it will be handed
off and, if so, to which access point. Contrary to the
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